Virtual digital imaging and method of using the same in real state

ABSTRACT

The present invention concerns an all-inclusive virtual tour website that features virtual tours of real estate properties. The present invention further concerns methods for allowing real estate related businesses to advertise on the website while complying with applicable guidelines. The present invention further allows various product and service vendors to advertise on the website. The present invention also provides information about various neighborhoods, civic, and other important information to potential home buyers. The present invention also contemplates lead generation services, such as generating loan application information, which may then be provided to lending institutions for bidding or sale. The present inventor also concerns related software, business methods, and Internet websites, platforms or other portals

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent application is related to and claims the benefit andpriority of a previously filed provisional patent application entitled“Virtual Digital Imaging and Method of Using the Same in Real Estate,”filed on Jun. 8, 2004, and assigned Ser. No. 60/577,893. The provisionalpatent application is incorporated herein by reference.

This patent application also incorporates by reference anotherco-pending utility patent application, U.S. patent application Ser. No.______, filed Jun. 3, 2005, entitled “Virtual Digital Imaging and Methodof Using the Same in Real Estate,” which also claims benefit of andpriority to the previously filed provisional patent application entitled“Virtual Digital Imaging and Method of Using the Same in Real Estate,”filed on Jun. 8, 2004, and assigned Ser. No. 60/577,893.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

The real estate industry has continued to thrive since the late 1990's.With favorable interest rates and market conditions, the real estateindustry has continued to strengthen. Record numbers of personal andcommercial real estate properties are being bought and sold each year.The present invention concerns all types of personal and commercial realestate.

As indicated by the 2000 United States census, approximately 66% oftotal households in the United States are single family homes. Somesources indicate that approximately 25-35% of these homes go on saleannually. Currently, increasing numbers of these homes are being listedon the Internet as “virtual tours”. Furthermore, more and morecommercial real estate properties use virtual tours. Virtual tours willcontinue to increase in popularity.

Traditionally, a seller of real estate retains a real estate agent tohelp sell the property. In the United States, the real estate agentadvertises the property and is paid a percentage of the final sale priceof the home upon sale. The most predominant advertising service in theUnited States is known as the “MLS” or the Multiple Listing Service.Real estate agents and buyers examine MLS listings to see what isavailable on the market. After narrowing their choices, actual homevisits are arranged. The time consuming nature of actual visits limitthe number of potential houses that can be viewed by a potential buyer.

With the widespread use of the Internet, more and more home owners areadvertising on the Internet. Recently, Internet advertising hasdeveloped more sophisticated features. Unlike traditional MLS listings,which featured only one still image of the home, Internet advertisingallows multiple photo images of the real estate property on sale.Additionally, some listings enable the potential buyer to take “virtualtours” of the property through multiple photos, panoramic images, and360 degree images of the homes. Virtual tours give the potential buyer abetter sense of the property without having spent the time required toactually visit individual homes. The buyer virtually sees and visits thereal estate property at the comfort of his or her computer.

A typical real estate transaction involves numerous parties, includingbuyers and sellers, real estate brokers and agents, lenders and mortgagebrokers, insurance companies and agents, home inspectors, settlementattorneys, title companies, and vendors of all kind. These real estaterelated businesses have also grown with the real estate market.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

The present invention concerns virtual tours for use in the real estateindustry, whether commercial, residential or otherwise. Virtual toursincrease the visual impact of the property being sold. Virtual toursshowcase the real estate property directly to potential buyers who sitsat comfort of their computer. Because of the increased ease of viewing aproperty virtually, more potential buyers view the property, and inturn, increased viewing traffic increases the likelihood of sale.

The present invention concerns an all-inclusive Virtual Tour websitethat features virtual tours of real estate properties. The presentinvention further concerns methods for allowing real estate relatedbusinesses to advertise on the website while complying with applicableguidelines. The present invention further allows various product andservice vendors to advertise on the website. The present invention alsoprovides information about various neighborhoods, civic, and otherimportant information to potential home buyers. The present inventionalso contemplates lead generation services, such as generating loanapplication information, which may then be provided to lendinginstitutions for bidding or sale. The present inventor also concernsrelated software, business methods, and Internet websites, platforms orother portals. The present invention may be referred to herein as VIPTour and/or Virtual Tour, among other names.

Furthermore, the present invention also allows potential buyers tomodify the digital images of the property featured on the virtual tours.Potential buyers will be able to change room colors and add or removeitems such as carpet, texture, and moldings while maintaining therealistic feel of the property. The software and business methods arereferred to herein as Virtual Colorization.

Moreover, the present invention contemplates an interactive virtualtour, where the digital images may be modified to suit the viewer'schoices, including furniture, adding or removing fixtures, landscaping,and much more. The present invention allows potential buyers to easilyadd or remove such items to suit the potential buyer's tastes and todesign the home as the buyer wishes. These inventions, which concernmethods, software, and the business methods, may be referred to hereinas Virtual Dëcor.

The Virtual Dëcor tour may provide a ready database of images that theend user may insert into the digital image of the property in the VIPTour using the Virtual Dëcor software. The present invention allows forthese modifications of photo images while maintaining the realistic lookof the digital image while preserving the realistic look of the images.Whereas currently available technology may allow for such insertions oredits to be made to photo images, they are difficult to implement andare not practicably available to an average computer user.

In one embodiment, the end users may work with Virtual Dëcor and VirtualColorization without having special software other than the usualsoftware present on an average computer system. In another embodiment,the end user may download software, either through the Internet or othermeans, onto the user's computer to facilitate using the Virtual Dëcorand Virtual Colorization.

The present invention also provides information regarding and allowstransaction with various real-estate related goods and services, such aspaint companies, furniture companies, or landscaping companies to thepotential real estate buyers (end users). In addition, the presentinvention contemplates allowing manufacturers or sellers of good such asfurniture to advertise on the platform. Additionally, furniture itemsavailable from the manufacturer may be selected and inserted into thephoto image of the property being viewed. For example, a link to afurniture manufacturer may showcase furniture items to be added to theimage of the photo image of a room. By clicking on the furniture maker'sname, a list of available items, optionally categorized according totypes and prices, may be available. Furniture may be purchased directlyfrom the sellers or through the platform contemplated in the invention.A link may be provided to the manufacturer's website directly, whereinthe user will be able to order featured products and goods. In otherembodiments, the real-estate platform of the present invention willallow ordering process to occur directly within the platform.

Additionally, the present invention also contemplates that the webpagedisplaying the featured home display useful information regarding theproperty, optionally including but not limited to civic information,neighborhood demographic information, comparable sale values of homes inthe neighborhood, property ownership history and recorded information,tax records, information about nearby restaurants and shops, and anyrelated promotional information, with or without hyperlinks.

Furthermore, the present invention concerns a method of allowing variousparties involved in the real estate transactions such as mortgagebrokers and insurance brokers to come together in a platform tofacilitate the real estate transaction while complying with theapplicable regulatory guidelines. The Virtual Tour advertising platformcontemplated in the present invention is preferably independently ownedand not owned by parties involved in the real estate transaction, i.e.,real estate brokers or agents. Sellers and their agents may advertisetheir real estate as virtual tours by contracting with the independentlyowned advertising platform or by purchasing virtual tour packages.

The independent advertising platform of the present invention allowsreal estate agents to list preferred third-party service providers, suchas mortgage brokers, insurance brokers, title companies, and settlementagents without violating real estate regulations that prohibit certainkick-backs. Although real estate agents are allowed to select certainnumber of preferred third-party service providers, the platformrandomizes the frequency with which the preferred providers will appearwith a property being advertised. This avoids violating any regulationsthat prohibit kick-backs since payment is made directly to theadvertising platform and is not tied to leads.

The independent advertising platform may optionally generate leads formortgage companies. For example, an end user may apply for a mortgagedirectly on the Virtual Tour website and receive a quote. For example,an end user may input application information to apply for a mortgage.The end user may optionally agree to allow the application informationto be sent to additional mortgage service providers. Thus, for example,after 15 days, the independent advertising platform may sell theapplication information or leads to other mortgage lenders. The variousmortgage lenders may then bid on the application or may directly contactthe end user. These leads, which may be sold, preferably have nocorrelation to actual consummation of loans, and therefore are withinthe applicable guidelines.

In optional embodiments, the end user's credit or applicationinformation may be used for generating leads for other financial serviceproviders. For example, the end user's application (preferably with theend user's consent) may be used to generate leads for credit cardcompanies. In additional embodiments, the end user's financialinformation, credit information or application information may be usedby a product retailer, such as a furniture company, to pre-approve acredit line for the end user.

As an additional embodiment, the present invention tracks rates at whichvarious vendors, such as mortgage brokers, insurance brokers, titlecompanies, and settlement agents, are selected from the websiteadvertisement. Furthermore, the present invention also optionally allowsthe end user to apply for a loan directly (or insurance or otherservices) on the website. The virtual tour platform may in return takethe application information and solicits bids from various lenders. Thelenders may compensate the virtual tour platform in a variety of waywhile staying within the guidelines.

The present invention also concerns business methods involving presentinvention discussed herein. The present invention also contemplatessoftware programs concerning said present invention.

Preferred embodiments are discussed below. As the present invention maybe embodied in several forms without departing from the spirit oressential characteristics thereof, it should also be understood that thedescription contained herein is not limited by the details of theforegoing description, unless otherwise stated. The present inventionshould be construed within its spirit and scope, and therefore allchanges and modifications that fall within the meets and bounds of theclaims, or equivalences of such meets and bounds are therefore intendedto be embraced by the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A preferred embodiment of the present invention has been depicted forillustrative purposes wherein:

FIG. 1 is a login menu of the Virtual Tour.

FIG. 2 is a main menu for the Virtual Tour.

FIG. 3 is a Maintenance menu of the Virtual Tour, for use by internalemployees.

FIG. 4 is an Edit Tour Options Charges menu, which shows the pricing oftour items and which is selected from the Maintenance menu of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a Global Parameters Configuration menu, which inserts internalemployee information and which is selected from the Maintenance menu ofFIG. 3.

FIG. 6 is a Tour Information menu, which is selected from the main menuof FIG. 2.

FIG. 7 is a Tour Info menu, which is selected from the Tour Informationmenu of FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is a Tour Request menu, which is selected from the TourInformation menu of FIG. 7 and which concern Property information.

FIG. 9 is a Tour Request menu, which is selected from the TourInformation menu of FIG. 7 and which concerns Tour Options information.

FIG. 10 is a Tour Request menu, which is selected from the TourInformation menu of FIG. 7 and which concerns Banners information.

FIG. 11 is a Tour Request menu, which is selected from the TourInformation menu of FIG. 7 and which concerns Buttons information.

FIG. 12 is a Tour Info Update menu, which is selected from the TourInformation menu of FIG. 7.

FIG. 13 is a Tour Assignment menu, which is selected from the TourInformation menu of FIG. 7 and which is used to assign the Virtual Tourto specific internal personnel.

FIG. 14 is a Photographer Assignment menu, which is selected from theTour Information menu of FIG. 7 and which is used to assign aphotographer for the Virtual Tour request.

FIG. 15 is a Tour Block Purchase menu, which is selected from the TourInformation menu of FIG. 7 and which is used for purchasing a block ofVirtual Tours.

FIG. 16 is another Tour Block Purchase menu, which shows the Excelspreadsheet for gathering information for tracking all types of VirtualTour activity.

FIG. 17 is an example of an Excel spreadsheet used by the Virtual Tourto track a variety of information about Virtual Tour activity.

FIG. 18 is an email to be sent to a real estate agent after a VirtualTour request has been processed.

FIG. 19 is a sheet report of information concerning Virtual Tour.

FIG. 20 is a VIP Tour Invoice.

FIG. 21 is a Customer Information menu, which is selected from FIG. 6.

FIG. 22 is a Contact Info menu selected from the Customer Informationmenu of FIG. 21.

FIG. 23 is the Billing Info menu, which is selected from the CustomerInformation menu of FIG. 21.

FIG. 24 is Preferred Partner menu, which is selected from the CustomerInformation menu of FIG. 21 and which is used by the real estate agentsto choose preferred mortgage and insurance agents or companies.

FIG. 25 is an Agency Info menu, which is selected from the TourInformation menu of FIG. 6.

FIG. 26 is an Agency Info menu, which is selected from the Agency Infomenu of FIG. 25.

FIG. 27 is a Billing Info menu, which is selected from the Agency Infomenu of FIG. 25.

FIG. 28 is a VIP Packages menu, which is selected from the Agency Infomenu of FIG. 25.

FIG. 29 is a Choose Company Affiliation menu for use by real estateagents.

FIG. 30 is a Branch Info menu for real estate branches and regionaloffices, which is selected from the Branch Info menu of FIG. 6.

FIG. 31 is a Billing Info menu for real estate branches and regionaloffices, which is selected from the Branch Info menu of FIG. 6.

FIG. 32 is a Personnel Info menu, which is selected from the menu inFIG. 6.

FIG. 33 is a Contact Info menu of the Personnel Info menu, which isselected from the menu of FIG. 32.

FIG. 34 is a Restricted Info menu of the Personnel Info menu, which isselected from the menu of FIG. 32.

FIG. 35 is a Photographer Information menu, which is selected from themenu of FIG. 32.

FIG. 36 is a two-dimensional layout of a floor plan of a room.

FIG. 37 is an image of a room that has been outlined for VirtualColorization.

FIG. 38 is an image of a room that has been prepared for gridding withdots and lines for the outer edges of each grid.

FIG. 39 is an image of a room whose vertical surfaces and floor spacehas been graphed or grid.

FIG. 40 is an illustrative example of furniture pieces placed within agridded virtual room.

FIG. 41 is an illustrative example of furniture pieces placed within avirtual room, showing the outlining.

FIG. 42 is an image of a room that shows the grid threading.

FIG. 43 is an image of a room that shows the grid threading and showsthe initial stage of placing a chair as shown.

FIG. 44 is same as the image in FIG. 43 without the grid threading beingvisible.

FIG. 45 shows the chair in FIG. 44 having been placed in its desiredlocation within the image in the desired position.

FIG. 46 is an image of a chair showing its dimensions.

FIG. 47 is another image of the chair in FIG. 46.

FIG. 48 is an image of the chair enclosed in a three dimensional box.

FIG. 49 is an image of a chair that has been grid to be able to pitchand roll when inserted into an image of a room.

FIG. 50 is a collection of menus for used in Virtual Dëcor and VirtualColorization.

FIG. 51 is an image of a room in Virtual Tour, which has a couchselected for insertion.

FIG. 52 is the collection of menus in FIG. 50, showing that a specificcouch has been selected in the Furniture Chooser menu.

FIG. 53 is the same image as in FIG. 51 without the white background boxaround the couch.

FIG. 54 is an image of the room with the couch placed in its desiredlocation or grids.

FIG. 55 is the image of FIG. 54 with the Veiling option selected to movethe couch to appear behind the coffee table.

FIG. 56 is the image of FIG. 55 with the coffee table appearing in frontof the couch after veiling (also has an added couch cushion).

FIG. 57 is the collection of menus in FIG. 52, with the Hardwood optionselected in the Interior Design Structures menu.

FIG. 58 is the image of FIG. 56 with the floor having been changed tohardwood.

FIG. 59 is the collection of menus in FIG. 57, with a different couchselected in the Furniture Chooser menu.

FIG. 60 is the collection of menus in FIG. 59, with the couch selectedfor incorporation into the room.

FIG. 61 is the image of FIG. 58 with the newly selected couch of FIG. 60placed in the place of the previously selected couch.

FIG. 62 is an example of a Virtual Tour webpage.

FIG. 63 is an example of a Virtual Tour webpage showing an exterior viewof a house and having the Virtual Colorization and Virtual Dëcorcapabilities.

FIG. 64 is another example of a Virtual Tour webpage showing an interiorview of a house and having the Virtual Colorization and Virtual Dëcorcapabilities.

FIG. 65 is an example of a Virtual Tour page showing an image of a roomhaving been designed with Virtual Dëcor and Virtual Colorization.

FIG. 66 is the same room shown in FIG. 66, having been designedalternatively using Virtual Dëcor and Virtual Colorization.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Independently Owned Advertising Platform thatComplies with Applicable Regulations

Certain regulations that govern the real estate industry make itunlawful for a person to give or receive any fees, kickbacks or a thingof value incident to or as part of a settlement service involvingfederally related mortgage loans for referrals. See e.g., HUD'sRegulations X, Sec. 3500.14, Section 8 of RESPA (12 U.S.C. 2607) (“antikickback law”). Thus, a real estate agent cannot receive a ‘kickback’for referral of settlement services where the real estate agent does notdo work reasonably related for the compensation received. There are someloan origination programs that offer real estate agents incentives forlittle or no work, which often can be illegal under the applicablerules. The applicable law's aim is to prohibit fees that would drive upthe cost for the consumers. Mortgage lenders may not give real estateagents, and the agents may not receive fees or a thing of value forreferrals where the compensation is not reasonably related to actualwork.

But in the real estate industry, real estate agents and mortgage brokersoften work closely together in transactions and develop lastingrelationships. Because the applicable rules make it illegal for realestate agents to receive referral fees or kickbacks under mostsituations when there is little or no work rendered by the realtor, areal estate agent must be very careful to abide by the regulations.Because of the criminal and regulatory nature of such prohibitions, itbecomes important that real estate agents comply scrupulously with thelaw.

One such example of a prohibited transaction is a situation where amortgage lender or broker advertises on the website of a real estatebroker. For example, next to the property listings, the real estatebroker advertises the services of a mortgage lender or broker. Themortgage lender must make payments to the real estate broker for theadvertisement fee, and the payments must be reasonable and commensuratewith the value of the advertisement. But if the mortgage lender makespayments only when there is a “referral” that results in business forthe mortgage lender, such an arrangement may be found to violate theanti kickback laws.

To avoid any appearance of impropriety, there is a need in the industryfor an independently owned advertising platform, where payments byadvertisers are paid directly to an independent advertising platform.Furthermore, the advertisement fees must not be a disguised form ofreferral payments.

Furthermore, there are certain restrictions governing real estate brokerowning a mortgage company. For example, although realtors can bemortgage brokers, they may have to be in real estate sales for a term oftwo years. Also, although some mortgage brokers work at a real estateagency office to help expedite the mortgage loans, under suchcircumstances, they are not allowed to work also as a selling realtor.

Thus, there is a need in the industry for an independent advertisingplatform that complies with the applicable regulations and allowsrealtors, associated service providers, other participants and vendorsto interact in a single platform to buy and sell real estate whileadvertising the associated services and products.

The present invention concerns a method of allowing buyers, seller andreal-estate service providers, including mortgage lenders and brokers,insurance brokers and agents, title insurance companies, settlementcompanies and others, to come together in an independent platform, suchas a Virtual Tour or VIP Tour of the present invention, whereinadvertisement fees are paid directly to the independent platform by theservice providers in consideration for listing and advertising theirservices. The independent platform does not tie the advertisement feesin any way to the amount of leads generated, and the fees are reasonableand commensurate with the type of advertisement to conform to theapplicable regulations.

The advantage of the Virtual Tour of the present invention is that itallows service providers, such as mortgage companies, to pay advertisingfees to an independent third party. Because the realtor does not receiveany fees or a thing of value from the mortgage company, it complies withthe applicable regulations and does not create even the appearance ofimpropriety. The independent platform charges the real estate agents afee for featuring their property and for providing a virtual tour forthe public. In addition, mortgage companies that subscribe to be listedalso pay the independent platform. The mortgage broker is not in any waypaying the realtor by advertising on the independent platform.

Example of Randomly Selecting Mortgage and Insurance Companies forAdvertising on the Virtual Tour

Described below is a detailed description of a preferred embodiment,wherein the realtor selects preferred mortgage brokers for advertisingalongside the featured property. This embodiment described the methodused to generate a random selection of service providers to conformwithin regulation requirements. Although this embodiment is describedconcerning mortgage companies and insurance companies, this inventionmay also be applied with other real-estate related services or products.

After a real estate agent signs and contracts with the independentVirtual Tour platform, the agent selects a number of preferred mortgagebrokers that he or she prefers to be featured on the Virtual Tourshowcasing the agent's real estate property. Due to the close workingrelationship with lenders, a real estate agent may wish that certainbrokers be used. To avoid even the appearance of impropriety, however,the Virtual Tour does not give the real estate agent direct control overwhich brokers are actually listed with the Virtual Tour. The VirtualTour randomizes the selection process and receives advertisementpayments from the real estate agent as well as the service providers.The Virtual Tour platform of the present invention is independentlyowned, and not owned by the real estate agent or agency or the mortgagebrokers.

In one example, the real estate agent preferably selects a fixed numberof mortgage brokers and insurance agents. Each listing agent has theoption of changing his or her preferred mortgage brokers, which may thenbe added to the pool for random selection. Once the listing agentselects his or her preferred service providers, the advertising platformchecks the service providers' qualification. Assuming that the serviceproviders are qualified to conduct business in the state, for example,they are added to a pool of additional randomly selected serviceproviders.

Mortgage companies are then randomly picked from such a pool andfeatured on the Virtual Tour webpage that showcase the listed property.Service providers, such as mortgage brokers, may also have banners thatlink the Virtual Tour directly to the mortgage broker's website. Thepotential buyer will be able to select a mortgage broker directly fromthe Virtual Tour website. The Virtual Tour may also display the realestate agent's and the agency's banner on the Virtual Tour webpage.Potential buyers may click on these banners to visit the agent's or theagency's websites directly.

In the random selection process, a hit probability factor may first bedetermined. This preset factor tells the real estate agent theprobability that one of its preferred brokers will be featured on thepage advertising the listed home for sale. For example, the probabilityof a pre-selected mortgage company being featured with the advertisedhome may be represented by a number “N”, which represents a one-in-Nprobability. Thus, where the probability N is set at 5, there is a 1 in5 or a 20% probability that one of the pre-selected companies may befeatured in the virtual tour. This is by way of an example only and theprobability can be adjusted, for example so as to meet the standards ofthe applicable regulations.

Using the total number of available mortgage companies in the state ofinterest (optionally chosen from subscribing mortgage companies,including pre-selected and unselected companies), the number ofadditional mortgage companies that are needed to generate thepredetermined rate of pre-selected companies appearing is calculated.For example, if N is set at 5 and there is one in five or a 20% chanceof the pre-selected companies appearing, then with a pre-selection of 3companies, an additional 12 mortgage companies are added to the list.And from this list of a total of 15 mortgage companies, the chances ofany of the three pre-selected companies being selected at random is 1 in5 (N).

The 15 different mortgage companies are then picked at random by theindependent advertising platform. For example, a number is assigned toeach of the 15 mortgage brokers, and numbers may be picked at random,and the corresponding mortgage brokers are then displayed with thevirtual tours. Thus, if three mortgage broker advertisements areincluded within the webpage advertisement for the sale property, thereis a one in five chance that one of the three pre-selected mortgageproviders may be picked. There is a chance that all three of thepre-selected mortgage providers may be listed, and there is also achance that none of the pre-selected mortgage providers may be listed.These probabilities may be adjusted to increase the likelihood of apre-selected mortgage broker being listed in the advertisement. Anyadjustments may be made, for example so that the applicable regulationsprohibiting ‘kickbacks’ are not violated.

Also, the total number of mortgage company banners appearing with thevirtual tours can also be adjusted, which may increase or decrease thelikelihood of a pre-selected service provider appearing. In the exampledescribed above for example, the total number of mortgage broker bannersappearing may be increased to five and thus further affect the chancesof a pre-selected broker appearing within the advertisement.

Optionally, the selection process may be automated to vary from time totime. For example, every time a user accesses the webpage featuring theadvertised property, the mortgage brokers listed may change. In otherembodiments, changes may be made on an hourly, daily or weekly basis.Thus, the pre-selected mortgage broker will have an increased chance ofminimal appearance during the advertisement period.

Similarly, additional service providers, including but not limited toinsurance companies, title companies, home inspectors, closing agents,and other, can also be randomly selected. As described, a real estateagent can pre-select a set number of insurance companies. By addingadditional qualified unselected insurance companies to this list,featured companies are picked at random to be displayed with the virtualtour. Again, randomly selected insurance agents may have a presetprobability rate of appearing in the listed property page.

In this manner, there is a double guarantee that the applicable‘anti-kick back’ rules are being followed. First, as described, thevarious advertisers, whether real estate agents or other serviceproviders, pay the independent platform directly for theiradvertisements. These payments are not related or contingent on areferral being made. Second, the various service providers such asmortgage brokers and insurance agents are picked from a randomized listthat provides only a set probability of the pre-selected provider beinglisted.

This does not mean, however, that the virtual tour platform may not havea specific vendor that may always be present on a virtual tour. Forexample, the independent virtual tour platform may have an advertisementagreement with one or more specific companies to feature their productor services at all times. Again, advertisement fees for such exclusivelistings are paid directly to the independent platform and are not paidto the real estate agents or brokers.

Optionally, the text boxes which display the banner and button URLs arelocked to prevent any editing or deletion of the addresses other than bythe Virtual Tour personnel.

Virtual Tour May Feature Additional Product and Service Providers andProvide Tracking of Information

In addition, real estate agents often recommend goods and servicesinvolved in the purchase of a home. For example, a real estate agent mayrecommend a local landscaper for a buyer after buying a property. Butreal estate agents can sometimes become directly or indirectly liablefor the recommendation in various situations. Depending on thecircumstance, especially if there is an ongoing and a profit drivenrelationship, a homeowner may attempt to hold a real estate agent liablefor the damages caused by a recommended service provider. Theseconsiderations make it unfavorable for a realtor to be an advertiser.Thus, the present invention provides for a third-party advertisingplatform.

The Virtual Tour of the present invention also optionally allows forcollection of data on what banners are being accessed. Information maybe gathered as known in the art, according to demographics, economicstatus, property type, etc. Information gathered reveals what consumersare looking for out of entire real estate market. Additionally as anoptional embodiment, the present invention tracks rates at which variousvendors, such as mortgage brokers, insurance brokers, title companies,and settlement agents, are selected from the website advertisement.Optional service packages may provide feedback to the advertisers onviewing information.

The present invention also optionally contemplates an embodiment whereinadditional service and product providers, such as paint companies,furniture companies, decorators, contractors, and landscaping companies,may advertise on the platform featuring the real estate for sale. Thus,the realtors and the third-party service providers do not violate anyregulations against kick-backs by paying advertisement fees directly tothe platform.

The present invention concerns business methods of providing a hostwebsite that allows various real-estate related service and productproviders to come together along with the realtors and the buyers andsellers to advertise and coexist while complying with the applicableregulations.

Third party companies may be national or regional, and the Virtual Tourplatform may enter into contracts to feature a specific vendor on thevirtual websites. Furthermore, selection of vendors and products may beinfluenced by geographical concerns. For example, a local furniturecompany can only advertise in specific locations, whereas nationalfurniture companies can advertise nationally.

In an alternative embodiment, the virtual tour may also offeradvertisements, information and/or links regarding retail stores,restaurants, and other local vendors (such as automobile repair shops,jewelry shops, key stores, hardware stores, etc.) The virtual tour mayalso list helpful information such as information about the city, theschool system, the crime rate, area demographics, average home saleprices for comparables, etc. Where a vendor advertises directly on theVirtual Tour platform's website, the vendor does not need to invest inand maintain its own website, and therefore is economically beneficialto the vendor. In one embodiment, the virtual tour website maycommunicate the order to the vendor directly. Thus, present inventionalso contemplates a one-stop inclusive virtual real-estate website.

Virtual Tour Platform from Contract to Set Up of Each Tour

There are various ways in which a seller or a seller's real estate agentcan upload the desired information about the property onto theadvertising platform. The description below describes only oneembodiment, and any obvious or known modifications are contemplated bythe present invention.

Once the seller or the real estate agent has contracted with theindependent platform to advertise its property, information and imagesof the home may be uploaded for advertising. For example, theadvertising platform may be configured so that the seller or theseller's agent may take photo images of the listed property and uploadthe images directly onto the advertising website. In another embodiment,there may be an optional choice between the seller directly uploadingimages or using a provided photographer to take photos of the propertyfor uploading. Any combination may be used.

Generally, sales representatives sell advertising services to realestate agencies. Sales representatives also target any of the other realestate related service providers, such as mortgage companies, insurancecompanies, home inspectors or title companies, and any other real estaterelated product and service companies, such as furniture companies,paint companies or landscaping companies. Any means of known advertisingmethods can be used. In addition, the independent platform may advertisedirectly on its websites.

When a real estate agent enters into a contract with the virtual-tourcompany, various purchase modes are contemplated. Available contractsmay vary from purchases in set-priced quantities, on a one-at-a-timebasis, bulk deals, or an unlimited usage basis. Prices structures maydiffer accordingly. When a realtor or a seller makes the decision toadvertise, they can notify the virtual tour company of their decision ina number of different ways including by logging directly onto thevirtual-tour company's website and filling out an order form.Furthermore, any known modes of communication, such as through emails,facsimiles and telephones, may be used to place an order.

Information initially gathered from the seller/agent may include theaddress and location of the property, a brief description, the seller'sinformation and the agent's information. Additional detailed informationgenerally listed in an MLS, such as the square footage of the property,detailed features of the home, number of rooms, options, schoolinformation, neighborhood information, age of house, etc. Thisinformation can be provided at the time or at any time prior to thevirtual tour being made available to the public.

With the property address, the virtual tour company may dispatch aphotographer to visit the property and obtain digital images of theproperty. Access to a home, for example, may be obtained through thegenerally used real estate lock box even though an agent may not be ableto show the property to the photographer. Optionally, an appointment maybe made with the agent or the seller to show the property to thephotographer.

Photographers can be assigned to geographic zone for faster service, orif preferred, realtors can request specific photographers for specificassignments. Instructions are then sent to the photographer.

Photographers then visit the property and take digital photographs. Ifpreferred, traditional photographic methods may also be used. Generally,digital photos of the property are taken. A set price may include a setnumber of digital images with increasing number of images addingadditional costs. The seller of the realtor can direct or make specificrequests to the photographer.

For specialized 360 degree views, panoramic views, or fish-eye type ofdigital images of the property, there may be a different pricingmechanism. The present invention contemplates using photographicequipment and digital image manipulation software as known in the art tobest capture the desired views and such images may be pricedaccordingly.

Once the photographer captures the photographic or digital images of theproperty, the photographer transmits the information back to the virtualtour company. This may be accomplished through hand delivering theimages, for example on a compact disc or any other known memory device,or through other electronic means such as emails sent from laptopsthrough conventional means or by using wireless transmitting means forfaster delivery as known in the art. The photographer may also accessthe independent platform directly and upload the images from his or heroffice or home.

Once the advertising site/platform receives the images of the property,it then processes the images prior to uploading them into the finalvirtual-tour website. Processing may include adjustments for resizing,touching up of images to remove glare, refocusing, sharpening of lines,etc.

As discussed below, additional preparations may ready the images formanipulation by potential buyers, such as for Virtual Dëcor use andVirtual Colorization use as discussed. A potential buyer visiting thewebsite may be able to modify the final images on the website, i.e. tochange the color of the walls, to add or remove furniture, to addshrubbery, etc.

Once all the necessary information is uploaded and the images have beenprepared, the seller or the realtor is notified and a print out, asrequested, may be sent to the realtor with a package indicatingadditional information described herein (i.e., randomly selectedmortgage brokers, furniture companies listed, etc). Optionally, mail,email and/or any other communication methods may be used.

Periodically or automatically, update or changes may be made at therequest of the seller/realtor. For example, the realtor may provide newdescriptions of each image, and the realtor may edit the description asdesired.

In addition to a caption and a description of the images, additionalfeatures may include an auto-play feature that will take the viewer fromscene to scene. Furthermore, the viewer may optionally enlarge the imageand maneuver within the image. For panoramic and 360 degree images, theuser may be able to maneuver the image to view any portion of theimages. Information about the real estate agent may be displayed in abanner with the agent's name and contact information. Optionally thebanner may be hyper-linked to the agent's own website.

Additional features of a site featuring a property may include means formailing the links of the tour to families and friends or prospectiveclients. Furthermore, additional means as known in the art fordownloading information regarding the property may also be madeavailable.

Optionally, prospective buyer can contact the agent directly from thetour website by email or a message, either text or voice, may be sentdirectly or indirectly by the user from the website. Furthermore, linksto additional real-estate hosting websites or the MLS, may be added forconvenience.

Example of a Virtual Tour Website Set Up

Described below is an embodiment of the present invention asdemonstrated as an Internet website. The following figures representInternet web pages or menus for inserting information.

FIG. 1 shows an initial log-in page. Users sign on and gain access tothe Internet website by entering login identification and password. Forfirst time users, they are required to set up a new account by clickingon the New Account Sign Up link, which may take the user to a differentpage. At the New Account Sign Up link, first time users can create theirprofile by entering a variety of information, including for example, thecontact information, login identification, personal password (which ismade confidential), and billing information. Contact information alsomay include the user's name, address, phone number, email, and othercontact information. For the billing information, the user provides thepayment method to be used for purchasing the services provided by thevirtual tour platform. Pre-existing users are also allowed to modifytheir account information.

The virtual tour platform allows the individual real estate agents, realestate agencies, real estate company branches, and real estate companiesto track various information about the virtual tours. For example, aswill be explained in more detail below, real estate agents are able totrack the number of times each virtual tour is accessed and the type ofactivity associated with each virtual tour. In addition, real estateagencies and companies are able to track individual real estate agentperformance within any specified parameters.

According to the type of user, whether an individual real estate agent,an internal virtual tour platform employee, a local real estate agencybranch, or a national real estate company, each user type may haveaccess to different information. Generally, internal tour platformemployees may have access to all of the information contained in thevirtual tour platform in addition to internal information needed to runand maintain the platform. National real estate agencies may also haveaccess preferably to all information available to regional and localreal estate branches and agencies, as well as individual real estateagents, in addition to information exclusive to the national real estateagencies. But they may not be given access to internal informationneeded to run and maintain the platform. Likewise, regional and localreal estate agencies may have access to all information available toindividual agents, in addition to some information not available to theindividual agents. Thus, depending on the user type, different levels ofavailable information may be accessed.

In this embodiment, there are generally three types of virtual toursthat may be made available. The first type, as an example called Virtual(or VIP) Tour, may represent a virtual tour package. A VIP Tour maycontain for example, information about the property normally listed inan MLS listing, but may also contain as described herein, virtual toursof the property (static, moving or 360 images), preferred mortgagebrokers and insurance agents as described herein (within the applicableguidelines), links to vendors and other real estate professionals, linksto the real estate agency's website, etc.

The second type of virtual tour, for example called the VIP ColorizationTour or Virtual Colorization, may preferably provide the added benefitof allowing the user to modify and manipulate the colors and thesurfaces of the homes in the digital images. The third type, for examplecalled the VIP Dëcor or Virtual Dëcor, may preferably allow the user toperform virtual decor changes and edits as described to manipulate thefeatured property.

FIG. 2 shows the webpage preferably displayed after the user gainsaccess to the site after log in. As known in the art, a user is able tonavigate between these various pages, for example by using a forward orbackward buttons. FIG. 2 shows an example of a VIP Tour. The user mayselect any of the displayed categories for viewing, updating, editing,and reporting. These categories may be modified as needed.

As an example, an internal virtual tour employee may select“Maintenance” in FIG. 2 to see FIG. 3. FIG. 3 shows the page that mayallow the user to “Edit Tour Options Charges” and “Edit GlobalParameters.” These pages will allow the internal employee to enterinformation that will customize the database for a particular realestate office.

By selecting “Edit Tour Options Charges” in FIG. 3, the internal touremployee is directed to FIG. 4. This page lists the different tourcharges that are available for a given real estate client. These chargesmay be modified according to individual contracts or may be fixed foreach client. The different charges are assigned a Charge Index withcorresponding Charge Amounts and Charge Descriptions. For example,Charge Index 1 costs $10, which is the charge rate for ordering an extraphotography disc. Additional charges may include for example, rushcharges for photography, rush charges for tour processing, a basicbrochure template fee, voice descriptions added to the tour, floor planinclusion, etc. FIG. 4 also preferably allows internal employees to addor delete optional charge items or revise and add additional pricingcharges. As real estate clients make specific requests for each virtualtour, charges may be made according to these tour Options Charges.Optionally, real estate clients may also under appropriate circumstancesgain access to the webpage of FIG. 4 to view the different pricingstructure. Optionally, a national or regional real estate company maygain access to the webpage of FIG. 4 to modify what charge and optionsmay be available for its real estate agents.

By selecting “Global Parameters Configuration” in FIG. 3, the internalemployee gains access to FIG. 5. The webpage of FIG. 5 allows input ofinformation relating to a particular office of the virtual tourplatform, such as the name and address of the office, telephone and faxnumbers, and name and contact information for the office manager andother support personnel. In addition to the address and contactinformation, office prefix (Office VIP Prefix) is assigned to appearwith every VIP Tour number that is issued by the office. Thisinformation may be used as an identifier for billing and trackingpurposes. Local sales tax is also defined on this screen as well as thebase price for a single virtual tour. Finally, the root addresses definewhether the office's virtual tours, advertisements, tour photos andpersonnel information are stored on the web or on the tour platformserver. FIG. 5 shows internal housekeeping matters for the virtual tourplatform and thus is accessed by internal employees.

Selecting “Tour Information” in FIG. 2 brings users to the webpage ofFIG. 6. This page allows the users to input, modify, and viewinformation about the virtual tours. “Tour Info” allows users to requesta tour, update tour information, assign a tour to a photographer, andpurchase a block of tours (FIG. 7). “Customer Info” is used to inputspecific information about individual real estate agents, “Company Info”is for national or corporate real estate companies, “Agency Info” is forlocal real estate agencies, “Branch Info” is for regional or branch realestate agencies, and “Personnel Info” is for internal virtual tourplatform personnel. As described, different users are given differentaccess. For example a national real estate company may have access to“Company Info”, “Branch Info”, “Agency Info”, and “Customer Info”,whereas a real estate agent may have access to only the “Customer Info”of these four categories.

By selecting “Tour Info” in FIG. 6, users are brought to the webpage ofFIG. 7. From this page, users will be able to request a tour, updatetour information, assign a tour to a particular photographer, and/orpurchase a block of tours.

Selecting “Request a Tour” in FIG. 7 will allow the users to inputinformation to request individual virtual tours. FIGS. 8-11 show thedifferent pages that are available. FIGS. 8-11 may be selected byselecting “Property”, “Tour Options”, “Banners”, or “Buttons”.

As shown in FIG. 8, users enter the date of the initial tour request.Tour identification is assigned along with the VIP Tour serial number.The specific customer or real estate agent information and invoicenumber is also assigned for the virtual tour. A link for “View Customer”allows users to see information on the real estate agent. By selectingthe “Property” button, users input the specific information about theproperty being covered by the virtual tour. Information shown in FIG. 8,along with additional information as otherwise available for example inMLS listings, may be inserted. Specific information about the realestate property will be featured on the final virtual tour, which isavailable for viewing by the public. In addition, tour prices, notesabout the particular tour, and the total costs are also shown.

Selecting the “Tour Options” as in FIG. 9 will allow the user to selectfrom the displayed options when ordering or requesting a tour. If nooptions are selected, the total costs for the tour will be assigned the“Basic Single tour Price” as defined for the particular customer in the“Global Parameters Configuration” of FIG. 5. Optionally, the charge foreach optional item may not be editable in this form, with the exceptionof the “Other” option in the “Interior Design—Premium Tours Only”category. The user will then be allowed to enter the number of rooms andthe number of images (“Looks”) per room, and the cost is calculatedbased on the fixed value per room. The Total Cost is displayed in thelower-right corner of this screen and reflected the charges incurred.

FIG. 10 shows the website for selecting the “Banners” to be displayed ina virtual tour. As new tours are being created, the real estate agent'sand his or her agency's banners are incorporated into the virtual tour.In addition, a banner for a mortgage company and another for aninsurance company are selected randomly as discussed above for inclusionin the tour. As will be seen in FIG. 11, agents are allowed to designatea fixed number of mortgage companies and insurance companies aspreferred partners, meaning that the probably of selection is greaterthan that of purely random selection as discussed previously in one inN. In additional real-estate related service providers and vendors, suchas paint companies may also be selected to be featured as discussed. Thevirtual tour platform tracks the overall activity associated with eachvirtual tour. Thus, at a later time, a real estate agent may generatereports that may show the number of times the public accessed each ofthese vendors, mortgage companies, and insurance companies were selectedwhile viewing each virtual tour.

FIG. 11 shows the “Buttons” page of “Tour Request” which allows the userto designate a number of advertisers. In the example shown, users maychoose paint companies and suppliers, furniture companies and vendors,and an additional vendor of choice.

FIG. 12 shows the website for identifying where the virtual tour islocated internally and on the Internet. The “Virtual Tour Update” pageis accessed by selecting “Update Tour Information” from FIG. 7. Thevirtual tour's storage location internally as well as the URL identifieswhere the virtual tour resides. As the tour photography and processingprogresses, the “Tour Info Update” form allows the user to update thetour's status by entering the date that the disk was received from thephotographer, the location of the files on the server, the name ofemployee uploading the files, etc. Once the tour has been completed andlinked to the Internet, selecting the “E-mail Customer” button will sendthe customer an email notification that the tour is ready for viewing.

FIG. 13 “Tour Assignment” is selected from FIG. 5's “Tour Information”menu to assign a photographer to prepare the real estate property. Thisscreen may be used to list the pending status of the tours, for example,to indicate which tours have yet to be assigned a photographer. Byselecting on the address of the unassigned Tour, the “PhotographerAssignment” form of FIG. 14 is displayed. Photographers are assigned todifferent zip codes, and thus, only the photographers that cover thespecific zip code may be available for assignment. To assign aphotographer to a tour, the user may click on the “Assign” button on theupper-right corner of the form.

FIG. 15 shows the “Tour Block Purchase” page, which is selected from the“Tour Information” menu of FIG. 5. Tours may be purchased by the agentsin blocks. These blocks of tours as described VIP Tours. Alternativetours include VIP Colorization Tours and VIP Colorization Dëcor Tours.The pricing may be set as agreed between the virtual tour company andthe real estate companies, agencies or agents. When a real estate agentpurchases a block of tours, the purchaser's name may be selected fromthe “Purchaser” combo box. The user may click on the “View CustomerInfo” button to view the customer's information. Selecting the “VIP PassPackage” will display a list of all of the VIP packages that areavailable to the customer. The sales agent is also indicated along withthe total purchase price and the identification assigned to the serialnumber of blocks.

Once the block sale is processed, the purchased VIP Tour passes arestored in the appropriate table, and an Excel spread sheet is created asshown in FIG. 16. The Excel spreadsheet contains various informationabout the virtual tour, such as the VIP serial numbers, date purchased,purchaser name, seller name, as well as information about how the passeswere redeemed. Thus, a real estate agency may keep track of how itsagents are using the block purchased virtual tours.

In addition, however, the Excel spreadsheet shown at the bottom of FIG.16 may also track various useful information about the virtual tour. Theinformation available may be categorized in the Excel spreadsheet asknown in the art. Some useful information include categorizing thenumber of hits for each individual tours, data as categorized by eachagency, branch or national offices, detailed tour hits for eachindividual agents, tracking individual agents' performance, leadsgenerated for advertising and banner promotion on each tour, leadsgenerated to agency from each tour, tour type, the average time for salecompletion, MLS listing information, account identifications, groupingby geographic regions, etc. Real estate agencies, branches, and nationalcorporations are thus able to gather useful information and analyze theeffectiveness of their activities. Hit counters and lead generationcounters give immediate feedback to the real estate industry members tobetter serve their clients. FIG. 17 is one example of such an Excelspreadsheet report, which may be modified as described.

Once the virtual tour is completed internally, FIG. 18 shows how thewebsite may be linked to the real estate agent's website. An emailcontaining the link to the virtual tour's Internet site allows the realestate agent to link the site to the agent's website. Also once thevirtual tour is completed, a “Property Tour Information Report” isgenerated as shown in FIG. 19. This may be emailed or faxed to thecustomer. This report contains all information pertinent to the tour. Inaddition, from the “Tour Request” form of FIG. 8, selecting “PrintInvoice” button will generate an invoice for the requested tour. Thisform may be emailed, faxed, sent by PDF, or otherwise communicated asknown in the art.

FIGS. 21-24 show menus for entering, revising or viewing customer(individual real estate agent's) information. Depending on the contextand where appropriate, as used herein, the term “customer” may also beused to represent real estate agencies, branches or national real estatecompanies. FIG. 22 collects the contact information for a given realestate agent. In additional, the real estate agent's association isspecified within the boxes available in this screen. The real estateagent's contact information, photograph, and other information arerecorded and stored. The “Billing Info” menu of FIG. 23 is only visibleto the internal member or administrators of the virtual tour platform.This page contains the information required for cases in which the realestate agent is billed directly for the services performed.

FIG. 24 shows the menu for selecting the preferred partners to befeatured at random (as discussed) with the virtual tours. Here, threemortgage companies and three insurance companies may be selected. Theseare specified for each real estate agent.

FIGS. 25-29 show menus for entering, revising or viewing real estateagency information. As discussed, a national real estate company may bedivided into regional branches, which is further divided into localagencies. FIG. 26 allows input of information for a given real estateagency, and not for a specific real estate agent. If the agency isfurther affiliated with a particular umbrella company, that affiliationmay be entered. FIG. 27 shows the “Billing Info” menu, which shows howthe agency is billed for services performed. FIG. 28 shows the pricingfor the VIP Tour packages, which may be set by contract on anagency-by-agency basis. In the example shown, there are four levels ofblock purchases defined, at 25, 100, 175 or 250 tours. FIG. 29 shows amenu for selecting company affiliation.

FIGS. 30 and 31 display the name, address, and contact information for agiven branch of a real estate agency. Again, FIG. 31 shows the “BillingInfo” page, which contains the billing information for the servicesperformed.

FIGS. 32-35 allow input of internal virtual tour company personnelinformation as shown. Personnel information menus are shown in FIGS. 33and 34, and photographer personnel information menu is shown in FIG. 35.

Virtual Dëcor & Virtual Colorization

Once the digital images are loaded into the virtual tour platform, thevirtual tour company readies the images for the virtual decor asdescribed more in detail herein. This method of readying the images willallow visitors of the website to manipulate the property images, whetherinterior or exterior, to change, among others, the color of the walls,add furniture, replace flooring, modify fixtures, etc. The end user, apotential purchaser of a real estate property, easily and efficientlymodifies the image of the real estate property while maintaining lifelike and realistic feel of the image.

There are numerous methods known in the art for manipulating images.Shortcomings in the known methods, however, are that they are verycomplicated to use and often require specialized knowledge, equipmentand software. They require significant amounts of sophisticated trainingand time. Furthermore, modifiable images are generally pre-set andlimited to a few images. Also, previously known methods may not maintainthe realistic look in the image of the property featured. For example,in placing a chair within a room, available methods produce an imagewhere the chair does not appear to be a part of the room. The chair mayappear to have been a cut-and-pasted onto the actual image of the room.The cut-and-pasted image may look too large for the image, may not be inthe proper configuration, may not account for depth perception, and/ormay not account for the pitch and roll of the room, among otherdeficiencies.

Virtual Dëcor & Colorization

The present invention concerns a user-friendly software program thatallows potential buyers and sellers visiting the virtual tour website tomanipulate the digital images for virtual decorating purposes. Thesoftware program allows the user to take a pre-existing photo of abuilding exterior or an interior and ready it for manipulation. VirtualColorization refers to the software that allows color changes andmodification of walls, floors, and other structural elements. VirtualDëcor software refers to the software that allows different items, suchas furniture, to be placed within a digital image of a property.

The present invention allows for an on-line, real-time, virtual-digitalimaging capabilities. In addition to the benefits of viewing propertieson-line at the comfort of the user's computer, the present inventionallows the user to modify the digital images of the real estate. Theuser may change the walls for example, from one color to another, andthus, the user may find and design a home to his or her liking. Thepresent invention allows a user to conduct in-depth, pre-purchaseplanning and designing of a home, which results in an increasedlikelihood of purchase. The user will be able to virtually configure thehome to his or her exact desires. Furthermore, the present inventioneducates the consumer on new and different options available for design.Unlike other virtual tour or computer-based design services, VirtualColorization and Virtual Dëcor will allow end users to insert digitalimages of design elements, for instance furniture, into a digital photo.These colorization and decor software may be used independently ortogether or in conjunction with third party software as known in theart.

Generally, once digital images of the homes are taken, the photo imagesare readied internally at the virtual tour company for use by the enduser. Generally, the images are outlined section by section as will bediscussed below. The outlining process will allow the VirtualColorization software to identify the boundaries of areas to color or tomodify. Outlining will also allow structural modification to the image.

Next, the virtual tour company identifies the three dimensional layoutof the image. This process is referred to herein as gridding. Twodimensional grid of the floor plan and two dimensional grid of the wallsurfaces will allow a three dimensional configuration of the digitalimage. Invisible grid threading will allow the computer to treat thetwo-dimensional photo image as a three-dimensional figure with depth,height, and width. Each individual item to be inserted, such asfurniture, is also grid to give spatial dimensions. Various views ofeach item are stored in the Virtual Dëcor's database. Once the furnitureitems are configured to account for the pitch and roll, they are storedin the Virtual Dëcor database. The end user, a potential home buyer forexample, will be able to use Virtual Colorization and Virtual Dëcorsoftware through easy to use menus.

One feature of the present invention concerns a method for manipulatingthe digital image on the virtual tour to provide for color changes to astructure. For example, the present invention allows a potential buyerof a home to take the actual photo image of a bedroom and change thecolors of the room. As discussed herein, there are numerous otheradditional features, including but not limited to adding or taking awayfurniture, fixtures, window dressing, changing the flooring, and addingdifferent cabinet and countertop surfaces.

Taking the changing the color of the room as an example, a potentialbuyer will be able to take the pre-outlined digital image in the virtualwebsite and modify the colors of the wall. The software available on thewebsite will allow the user to choose whether a preexisting item on thewall, for example a photo album or a wall shelf, should be removed sothat the wall appears as a clean slate without the preexisting items. Asan alternative, the user will also be able to choose an option thatkeeps the preexisting item in place despite the change in the color ofthe wall. This process is accomplished by outlining as will bedemonstrated in more detail below.

The virtual website will also allow the user to pick from a variety ofoptions for colors of the wall, as well as for various types of productsand textures for the walls. For example, there may be an option forchoosing different wall papers. The user may also optionally be able toselect a specific type of molding that matches the texture and/or colorof the wall.

As an additional example, a user may alter features of an exteriorimage. For example, a user may be allowed to pick an option for theouter wall, ranging from brick, log, wood, rock, vinyl, etc. The userwill also have the option of changing the color through a convenientdrop-down box showing the optional colors. The resulting image will hidethe underlying structure and appear life-like and realistic. The websiteallows for a realistic looking modification.

One embodiment of the invention allows users to add furniture. Furniturearranged by type, price, style, color, or maker can be chosen andinserted into the digital image of the room. The resulting image willagain appear realistic and will not stand out or look cartoonish. Theselected furniture can be dragged and dropped easily into the photoimage and it may be moved around at the user's option. Even if thephotographic image is a 360 degree panoramic still, the furniture imagemay be placed at a specific spot within the panoramic image.

As an additional example, a potential buyer may modify the landscapearound the exterior image of a home. This will again allow the user toenvision the property with the desired landscaping. The Virtual Tour mayalso contain banner of landscaping companies available in thegeographical location. Landscaping items may be categorized for exampleby type, style, price, landscaping company, etc. For example, the enduser may select a category for a pond and select the exact design shewishes. In addition, specific types of trees, shrubs, plants or flowersmay be selected and added to the image. The images may be provided bylandscaping companies or the user may insert her own image from varioussources. The software may allow the user's image to be modified (sized,cropped, and otherwise altered) for placement in the actual image of thehouse. Thus, the user may take a photo of a tree from an existingproperty and insert it for use on the website.

Optionally, the user may be directed to the landscaping or vendorcompany to purchase the desired item. Optionally, the user may submit arequest to purchase directly from the Virtual Tour website. Users mayselect from variety of landscaping features to customize landscapingview. Multiple images can be arranged in a landscape view, and thelandscaping image will blend into the overall view. Added images, suchas trees and shrubs will appear as if part of the original image.

Furthermore, the user will not need to individually outline orcut-and-paste the image. Pre-existing images can easily be added withmethods as known in the art. For example, after picking the desiredtree, the user will be able to click on the image and drag-and-drop theimage into the actual image. The Virtual Tour website allows users toquickly and efficiently modify digital images. Optionally, however,users may use any other images not supplied or available on the VirtualTour website. For example, a user may wish to insert an image of his orher personal furniture. The present invention contemplates the useruploading the desired images, and the Virtual Tour company readying theimages for use in Virtual Dëcor or Virtual Colorization.

Once the digital images are modified, various known methods for storingthe modified the image is contemplated as known in the art. For example,the user may simply forward the webpage by email to her account. In analternative embodiment, the Virtual Tour website will allow a user tocreate an account (free or for charge) and store the modified image.Specific pages of the website may also be bookmarked for easy access ata later time.

Optionally, as described herein, additional items available formodifying the digital image include, but is not limited to: furnitureitems (Furniture items (tables, chairs, sofas, lamps, plants); walls(boarders, crown molding, floor molding, columns) -Ceiling (recessed);wall fixtures (cabinets, framed photos, etc.); flooring (wood, carpet,tiles, rugs etc.); appliances (refrigerators, stoves, etc.); structures(fire places, arches, etc.); fixtures (doors, windows, chandeliers,bars, fans, faucets, etc.); plants; lighting equipment; window treatment(curtains, blinds, shades, etc.); exercise equipment (treadmill, weightmachines, etc.). An advantage of listing multiple vendors is also thatthe consumer will benefit from competitive pricing.

Example of Virtual Dëcor and Virtual Colorization

Shown in FIG. 36 is a two dimensional graph of a floor plan of a room.The floor plan or the two dimensional floor grids shown in FIG. 36calculates the layout of the floor space. Each of the larger squares inthe graph represents a square foot of the floor. As discussed below,laying the two dimensional grid allows the Virtual Dëcor software tofigure out the three dimensional layout of the room.

Using a graph paper as shown in FIG. 36, the layout of the room isentered. This can be done by manually or can be done automatically. Inone example, using a graph paper as shown in FIG. 36, the Sketch Itsoftware is used to draw the two dimensional graph of the room. Theouter lines in FIG. 36 represent the outline of the room's floor space.The dark objects within the lines represent the furniture layout of theroom. Since each square represents a square foot, the dimensions of theroom may readily be recognized.

FIG. 37 shows a room that has been outlined in preparation for VirtualColorization. The borders of contiguous surfaces, such as differentportions of a wall, the ceiling, the floor, the colurnn, the doors,etc., are outlined. Starting with a digital image (TIFF, JPEG, PSD,etc.) of the room as shown in FIG. 37, borders of discrete portions ofthe room are outlined. An outline generally traces the outer edges ofthe different portions of the room. Outlining (as well as placing thegrids as discussed below) is done prior to the end user viewing thedigital images of the homes on the Virtual Tour website.

Preferably, a pen tool is used for outlining, but any other methods asknown in the art may be used. The process can also be automated for theVirtual Colorization software to recognize natural outlines of the room.Once the software makes a preliminary outlines, the preparer can examinethe outlines and modify, delete or keep the different outlines.

Looking at the faux column on the back wall of FIG. 37, the small wallportion to the left of the faux column is outlined separately from thefaux column. The faux column is also outlined separately. Then, lookingat the wall portion to the right of the faux column, that wall portionis next outlined. Next the sliding glass door is separately outlined,and so on.

Using the Virtual Colorization software, the area inside an outline (ormore than one outline) may be altered or changed. For example, theVirtual Colorization software can add a new color for one or moreoutlined portion of the wall or for all the outlined walls; add a newfloor treatment, tile, or carpet; change the color of the flooring,among others.

Once the outlines are in place, the Virtual Colorization softwarereplaces the entire area within the selected outline. Thus, if a windowis present within an outline of a wall but was not separately outlinedwithin the wall, the window will disappear when the color of the wall ischanged since the new color is added to everything inside the outline.But if the window is separated out within the outline with a separateoutline, changing the color of the wall will not change the appearanceof the window. Thus, to preserve any structural items, these itemsshould preferably be outlined separately.

Outlining may even alter and modify the structural and architecturalelements of a digital image. Since the Virtual Colorization covers overeverything within an outline, the outlines may change the actual layoutof a room to virtually modify the structure of a room. For example, thelarge wall space in FIG. 37 (to the right of the faux column) may bemodified to alter the height of the walls at any place. The horizontalline where the wall and the ceiling meet may be modified by outliningthe line at a different place. For example, the line where the ceilingand the wall meet may be sloped up to create the shape of a vaultedceiling (not shown in FIG. 37). Because the masking covers everythingwithin the new (modified outline), when a new wall color is insertedinto the outline, the room will appear as if having a vaulted ceiling.

Furthermore, outlining will enable the Virtual Colorization software toadd new structural items. For example, to input crown molding into aroom, an outline of the crown molding can be inserted in the appropriateplace. Coloring the crown-molding outline will make the room appear ashaving white moldings. But as described, to the extent thatarchitectural elements are outlined and preserved, they will remain thesame as in the original, actual image.

Once the outlines are placed, various known software may be used toinsert different colors and structural items for use in the VirtualColorization software. Such known softwares may also be able toautomatically account for the shading and differences in color gradientwithin an outline. The software may detect subtle lighting and colordifferences within the outline and adjust accordingly. The shadowingeffect provides more realistic results.

Once a photo image of a furnished room is outlined, the furniture can beremoved by re-coloring all the walls and the floor. The structuralelements of the room that have been separately outlined are preserved asdiscussed. This blanking allows the end users to start with a blankslate of a room and to insert furniture and other furnishings of choice.

Outlining of digital images, as shown in FIG. 37 is not necessary, buthelpful, for making the vertical space grids seen in FIG. 38. Outliningis used mainly for Virtual Colorization. It is not necessary for makingthe three dimensional grid shown in FIGS. 39 and 42 as discussed below.Outlining does, however, provide convenient reference points forconstructing the vertical grids of FIG. 38.

A variety of known methods for assigning spatial dimensions may be used.One embodiment used in Virtual Dëcor is described as follows. Grids orgraphs are placed on the vertical surfaces and the floor space of theroom in FIG. 39. This allows for the setting up of a three dimensionalgrid or a three dimensional spatial system as seen in FIG. 42. As withthe outlining, the grids are placed in the photo before the end user(such as a potential real estate buyer) sees the prepared images.

Before the vertical grid system in FIG. 39 is laid out, the outer edgesof the grids are prepared. This can be done again either manually usinga pen tool or can be done automatically. The dots at first placed at theedges of the blocks for the grid. The dots are then connected manuallyor automatically with a line. The lines may be altered as desired. Gridscan be placed at the outer edges of the photo images. For example, a dot(not pictured) may be placed at the lower right corner of FIG. 38 andconnected by a line to a dot (not pictured) at the bottom midsection ofthe front doors on the bottom edge of FIG. 38. This may further help theVirtual Dëcor software calculate the square footage of the floor. Thetwo-dimensional grid in FIG. 36 may also be used as described.Furthermore, the grid can be placed beyond the photo image as seen inthe left most portion of FIG. 38. The final grids, however, maypreferably only graph what appears in the image. The dots and lines inFIG. 38 disappear when finished. Once the outer edges of the verticalgrids are put in place, the Virtual Dëcor software automatically graphsthese grids as shown in FIG. 39.

Closer objects in a photo image will appear larger. Thus, to accuratelydeal with depth perception, personnel preparing the grids enter thedimensions for the lines in FIG. 38. For example, the Virtual Dëcor istold that all the vertical lines from the floor to the ceiling are 9 ft.Even though the vertical lines by the sliding glass doors appear shorterin height than the vertical lines by the faux column, the computer istold that these vertical lines are all 9 feet. Thus, the computeraccounts for the difference in view and perspective.

Some photo images may require additional attention. 360 degree images,for example, may appear distorted. For some 360 degree images, multiplestill images are pieced together. With these images, care should betaken to ensure that the proportions should coincide in areas where thephotos merge. In other 360 degree images, one continuous 360 degreephoto is taken by special cameras. These photos often show distortionsin the photo. The Virtual Dëcor software may automatically detect thesedistortions. In other embodiments, the constant height of the wallsshould be specified to insure uniformity despite the distortions.

In the vertical grids shown in FIG. 39, each of the different grids canbe assigned different identifiers or names. Once the dotting and liningof FIG. 38 is completed, the gridding can be accomplished by instructingthe Virtual Dëcor software to insert the grids. The computer will assignthe square footage graphs as seen in FIG. 39. The vertical grids andgraphs provide the z-axis (of the three dimensional area within theroom.

The Virtual Dëcor software places items only on the inside of the grids.The space outside of the grids, i.e. outside the room, does not have anyspatial orientation, as the outside area would be missing one or more ofthe x, y and/or z-axis required for spatial positioning.

FIG. 40 shows how different furniture items may be moved within theroom. As will be discussed below, furniture pieces may be placed withinthe three dimensional grid of the room. FIG. 40 is an illustrativeexample of different furniture items having been inserted into the room.(Vertical surfaces, such as walls and ceilings, are not shown forillustrative purposes). The Virtual Dëcor contains a database ofpre-stored and pre-treated images (as discussed below) that may bequickly and easily be inserted and modified.

Therefore, the digital images of a home (or other real estate property)is prepared by outlining the room, changing the colors and the surfacesof the outlines, optionally coloring over the room to empty the room,inserting the vertical and flooring grids, and inserting the furniture(or other) items. FIG. 40 shows one example of how different furnitureimages may be inserted. FIG. 41 additionally shows the outline of theroom. The background has been blanked out to illustrate the outlines andthe furniture items inserted using Virtual Dëcor.

After the walls have been grid as seen from FIG. 39, the software istold to grid the entire room in three dimensions as seen in FIG. 42. TheVirtual Dëcor software inserts the white threads seen in FIG. 42. Theentire room is now spatially mapped with each cubic foot havingidentifiable location and exact spatial orientation. The spatialpositioning system is now complete. The white lines that appear in theimage are the grid threading, which disappears when the image is in usefor Virtual Dëcor. The visitors or end users, who use the Virtual Dëcor,preferably do not see the grid threading. Notice that the threedimensional grids account for depth perception and points of view. Forexample the cubes appear to be viewed at different angles and the cubesbecome smaller further into the room.

As will be explained in more detail below, the first step in placing apiece of furniture inside the grid system is shown in FIG. 43. In thisembodiment, as a default, the furniture to be placed (the chair) appearsin the grids closest to the front of the image as seen in FIG. 43. Theend user does not see the grid threading. FIG. 44 is the same image asFIG. 43, except for the grid threading being invisible.

From the initial positioning of FIG. 44, the chair can then be movedanywhere in the room as seen in FIG. 45. The chair in FIG. 44 has beenrotated 180 degrees. As will be discussed below, each item stored in theVirtual Dëcor database will have multiple views. The end user will beable to choose the desired view of the chair. Furthermore, the chair ismoved to the desired location within the room. In one embodiment, thechair is told to move to specifically identified grids. In anotherembodiment, the chair is moved to the desired location using controlmechanisms such as a mouse or keys. For example the arrows in thekeyboard can be used to move the chair back and forth and side to sidein the image. Using the arrows in conjunction with the control buttonmay also move the image of the chair up and down vertically in the room.In another embodiment, the mouse can be used alone or in conjunctionwith one or more keys to move the furniture item to its desiredlocation. Any suitable known methods may be used.

As discussed, the three dimensional grid accounts for depth variances.As furniture pieces are moved back in the image, they should appearsmaller, and vice versa. Thus, the computer software of Virtual Dëcoraccounts for the size of the furniture piece.

FIG. 46 shows one embodiment used to measure the size, volume, and shapeof a piece of furniture. In FIG. 46, the length, height and width of thechair are identified. This can also be done automatically by thecomputer. Thus, the spatial dimensions of the chair is known by theVirtual Dëcor software, and when the chair is moved around inside thethree dimensional grid, the software adjusts the size of the chairaccordingly.

FIGS. 46 and 47 show 180 degree perspectives of the same chair. In oneembodiment, multiple images of an individual furniture pieces areinserted into the Virtual Décor database. Approximately 4-10 additionalimages of the chair of FIGS. 46 and 47 are inserted into the database.The Virtual Dëcor software then uses these images and makes duplicatemirror images to create the entire 360 degree perspectives of the chair.

The floating images of the chair in FIGS. 46 and 47 may initially be cutout from PDF or PSD files for example so the furniture piece may appearto be floating without any background. These and other known programscan be used to remove the background. Thus, when a piece of furniture isplaced in a room using Virtual Dëcor, the background shows through theempty spaces within the chair as seen in FIG. 45.

In one embodiment as shown in FIG. 48, the Virtual Dëcor software maycreate a three dimensional box around the furniture. The bottom of thebox, for example, may then serve as a point of reference for contactwith the flooring in the grid.

The items to be inserted into the room should preferably be able topitch and roll. Digital images of an interior room may be taken fromdifferent angles. Thus, if the photo is taken from a higher vantagepoint, more of the flooring will appear in the image, whereas if thephoto is taken from a lower vantage point, less of the flooring willappear in the image. The furniture images inserted into the room shouldaccount for these differences to appear natural. The Virtual Dëcorsoftware is able to account for these differences. FIG. 49 shows howeach piece of furniture image stored in the database may be prepared toaccount for the pitch and roll. Any other suitable known methods forenabling pitch and roll may be used. Depending on the image of the roombeing used, the chair in FIG. 49 may need to pitch and/or roll. Forexample, the right arm rest may need to be lowered and the left armrestmay need to be raised to insert the chair image into a room to match theperspective of the room.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 49, the Virtual Dëcor software imagesthe chair using a pitch-and-roll grid. The lines meet at a centralreference point in the image. Here, the front left leg of the chair isused as the reference point. Thus, the threading in the pitch-and-rollgrid meets at about this point of reference. The Virtual Dëcor softwarepreferably automatically inserts the pitch-and-roll grid for each pieceof furniture view. Thus, this process is preferably repeated for thedifferent images or views of the same piece of furniture.

For each individual furniture item, after assigning the threedimensional perspective and assigning the pitch and roll, all thedifferent views are stored in the Virtual Dëcor database. Thus, oncethis process is completed for each furniture item, the furniture imagescan be used over and over to decorate all the different rooms usingVirtual Tour, Virtual Colorization and Virtual Dëcor.

FIG. 50 shows one embodiment of menus used in Virtual Dëcor and VirtualColorization. When the Dëcorator icon is selected from FIG. 51, themenus in FIG. 50 appear. The different menus in FIG. 50 may appeartogether as shown or in groups as desired. These menus may be viewedwith the image of the room shown in FIG. 51 while being modified byVirtual Dëcor or Virtual Colorization.

Going counterclockwise from the upper right corner, the first menu isthe Section Chooser used for Virtual Colorization. For example, the Areachosen may be the walls. As seen here, Virtual Colorization is used notonly for painting surfaces, but also may be used to insert walltreatments, flooring, and other optional features. Here, wall paperchosen in Sunflower Symphony. The preview menu gives the user a quickglimpse of the chosen option.

The second menu is the Color Chooser used with Virtual Colorization.Various colors can be grouped into different categories. For example, asshown, pre-set color swatches appear on the right side of the menu toeasily illustrate the available colors. The colors are grouped bycharacteristics. Options groups include ReadyMix, which allow users tomix their own individual colors, and KidZone, which show colors that aremore children oriented. Selecting the desired color on the colorswatches from the right side of the Colour Chooser selects the color.

The next menu is the Furniture Selector menu used for selecting thedesired furniture in Virtual Dëcor. Optional selections for the VirtualDëcor may include as discussed landscape items for the exterior of thehome, fixtures such as lighting and window treatments, etc. In FIG. 50,the Living Room option has been chosen in the Furniture Selector Menu.Furthermore, the Room (or Furniture) Type has been chosen as a Couch andthe Style Dëcor, which further divides the available types, has beenselected as Sectional. Finally, the Color of Material Pieces has beenchosen as Fabric.

The next menu in the lower left hand corner of FIG. 50, titledNavigator, previews the sectional couch as would be incorporated in thephoto image of the Virtual Dëcor. The couch in the Navigator shows thefinal results after the couch has been moved into place. The FurnitureChooser further displays individual couch images. As the differentselection in the Furniture Selector menu is changed, these furnitureimages change accordingly.

Next, the Interior Design Structures menu allows for modification ofinternal structural design items in the Virtual Dëcor and VirtualColorization. In FIG. 50, various types of structural options, rangingfrom Flooring to Roofing, are shown. Under the Flooring option, furthercategories such as Hardwood, Tile, and Carpet are shown. Each of thesecategories is further subdivided into subcategories as shown. Asdiscussed, various optional features, even those not featured, arecontemplated by the present invention.

With the selection of Hardwood in the Interior Design Structures menu,the next counterclockwise menu, the Interior Chooser menu offersillustrative examples of the different types of Hardwood, ranging fromLight Pine to Mahogany. The user will be able to preview the actualcolor of selected Hardwoods.

Finally, the Idea Sheets menu of FIG. 50 gives additional color optionsthat are available for use with the Virtual Colorization software.

FIG. 51 shows the initial appearance of the Virtual Dëcor webpage whenthe user selects the couch (selections Living Room, Couch, Sectional,Cloth, etc. in the Furniture Selector menu) as shown in FIG. 50.Initially, the image of the couch appears within a box with a whitebackground to denote that this image is being added. The whitebackground box disappears when the couch is selected on the webpage.Optionally, the couch may appear without the white background.

FIG. 52 shows the couch being selected in the Furniture Chooser menu (atlower middle). When this specific couch was selected, the remainingoptional items may optionally disappear as shown in the FurnitureChooser menu of FIG. 52.

FIG. 53 shows the couch without the white background box. The couchinitially appears large and may need to be resized. The couch may alsobe resized automatically. As described, the furniture appears initiallyin the most forefront grid boxes. Although the grid threads are notvisible in FIG. 53, the room has already been grid to include thethreads.

Using the controls as discussed or by telling the couch to move to aspecific location in the room as discussed, the user places the couch inthe desired location of the room as shown in FIG. 54. As seen in FIG.54, parts of the couch and the coffee table share some of the boxeswithin the grid. When this happens, the user can instruct the VirtualDëcor software which item should appear in front and which item shouldappear in the back.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 55, right clicking a mouse over thecouch with the user's mouse pops up a signal for “Couch Veil”. Scrollingthe mouse forward or backward tells the Virtual Dëcor software whetherthe couch should appear in front or behind the coffee table. Othermethods as known for staggering the images may be used. The result ofproper “veiling” is shown in FIG. 56. Here, the couch appears properlybehind the coffee table while being in front of the room divider shownbehind the couch. In addition, FIG. 56 shows an additional seat cushionhaving been added to the couch.

FIG. 58 shows that the flooring, for example, has been changed from thesame room shown in FIG. 56. As seen in FIG. 57, the Interior Design menuat the lower right hand corner has been modified. Selecting theFlooring, and more specifically the Hardwood option, and morespecifically Light Pine colored Hardwood option, the room in FIG. 58shows the room in FIG. 57 now having a light-pine colored hardwoodfloor. The color of the wall may be changed as well using the optionalfeatures shown.

FIG. 59 shows how a different couch may be inserted in place of thepreviously shown couch. In the Furniture Choose menu (lower middle) ofFIG. 59, the user may simply select a different couch. When a specificcouch is selected, the selection fills the Furniture Chooser menu andthe other options disappear as shown in FIG. 60. FIG. 61 shows the roomwith the newly selected couch.

FIG. 62 shows one embodiment of the VIP Virtual Tour. As seen in theleft hand column of FIG. 62, the user may select the different areas ofthe home for viewing. Photos may be static, movable, 360 degrees orotherwise as known in the art. On the page shown in FIG. 62, aninsurance company is advertised as discussed. The insurance company, aswell with mortgage companies and other real-estate related companies,may be chosen to appear at random from a group of candidates, some ofwhich may have been pre-selected (e.g. one of out N probability asdiscussed).

FIG. 63 shows additional embodiments of a Virtual Tour. Here, theVirtual Tour enables Virtual Colorization to allow users to selectdifferent colors for the exterior of the featured home. Variousadvertisers are featured on this webpage. For example, insurancecompanies and mortgage companies are shown. They may be selected atrandom as discussed. Furthermore, other real-estate related companies,such as a paint company and a furniture company are featured in theright side of the webpage. FIG. 64 is another example of a VirtualTour/Virtual Colorization webpage of an interior of a home.

FIGS. 65 and 66 are examples of an interior room that have beendecorated differently using the Virtual Dëcor software and the VirtualColorization software. The user has modified the color, flooring,fixtures, and/or the furniture of the room as desired.

Although not shown, using the methods discussed above, the Virtual Dëcorand Virtual Colorization software may modify the exterior of real estateproperty.

1. A real estate virtual tour platform designed to prevent kickbacks andappearances of impropriety between real estate agents and real estaterelated service or product providers comprising: a virtual tour platformthat is independently owned from the real estate agents and the realestate related service or product providers; wherein the real estateagents and the real estate related service or product providers payadvertising fees directly to the virtual tour platform; wherein theadvertising fees are not tied to leads; wherein the real estate agentsselect preferred real estate service or product providers; wherein theselected preferred real estate service or product providers are pooledwith additional real estate service or product providers selected atrandom; and wherein an additional random selection from the pool choosesreal estate service or product providers to appear with a real estateadvertisement.
 2. The platform according to claim 1, wherein one or moreof the real estate agents is selected from the group consisting of realestate related agents, agencies, brokers, and companies.
 3. The platformaccording to claim 1, wherein one or more of the real estate relatedservice or product providers is selected from the group consisting ofindividuals and businesses related to mortgage businesses, insurancebusinesses, settlement businesses, title companies, credit services,furniture sellers, construction services and products, landscapeservices and products, decorators, paint companies, and home improvementservices and products.
 4. The platform according to claim 1, wherein aprobability factor is assigned for the likelihood of preferred realestate service or product providers being chosen in the additionalrandom selection.
 5. The platform according to claim 1, wherein aprobability factor is assigned for the likelihood of preferred realestate service or product providers being chosen in the additionalrandom selection, and wherein the number of preferred real estateservice or product providers or the number of additional real estateservice or product providers is modified to change the probabilityfactor.
 6. The platform according to claim 1, wherein the real estateagent is able to choose different preferred real estate service orproduct providers at any time.
 7. The platform according to claim 1,wherein the additional random selection is repeated at intervals.
 8. Theplatform according to claim 1, wherein the virtual tour platformcollects data and tracks advertisement viewing and usage information. 9.The platform according to claim 1, wherein the virtual tour platformcollects data and tracks real estate agent performance information. 10.The platform according to claim 1, wherein the virtual tour platformcollects data and tracks viewing and usage information concerning realestate service or product providers.
 11. The platform according to claim1, wherein information concerning advertisement viewing and usage, realestate agent performance, or viewing and usage of real estate service orproduce providers, are collected and processed.
 12. The platformaccording to claim 1, wherein the platform selects real estate serviceor product providers based on geographic location of the advertised realestate.
 13. The platform according to claim 1, wherein the platformprovides one or more additional information selected from the groupconsisting of information about the city, educational system, crimerate, demographics, real estate sale prices, local governments, localparks and recreation, local events, and local businesses.
 14. Theplatform according to claim 1, wherein the virtual tour platform usesone or more photo images selected from the group consisting of digitalstill images, film, and 360 degree images, and panoramic images.
 15. Theplatform according to claim 1, wherein different user groups are givendifferent access to information available on the platform.
 16. Theplatform according to claim 1, wherein the platform is a computersoftware program.
 17. A method of providing a virtual tour platform forbuying and selling real estate and real estate related services andproducts without violating anti-kickback laws comprising: establishingownership of the virtual tour platform independent from real estateagents and real estate related service or product providers; requiringthe real estate agents and the real estate related service or productproviders to pay advertising fees directly to the virtual tour platform;wherein the advertising fees are not tied to leads generated; allowingreal estate agents to select preferred real estate service or productproviders; pooling the selected preferred real estate service or productproviders to additional real estate service or product providersselected at random; and additionally randomly selecting real estateservice or product providers from this pool to appear with a real estateadvertisement.
 18. The method according to claim 16, further comprisinga step of selling mortgage application information to mortgage companiesfor a fee, wherein the fee is not tied to actual consummation of loans.19. The method according to claim 16, further comprising a step ofselling mortgage application information to mortgage companies for afee, wherein the fee is not tied to actual consummation of loans, andwherein the mortgage companies bid on the application.